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mastro hired mears to authenticate the jersey. mears' judgement was that the shirt was "unable to authenticate" due to a name change on the back.
despite hiring mears for their authentication on the shirt, mastro never mentioned mears' findings. as well, a forum member contacted the UNC basketball office and was told by the equipment manager that "jordan has his shooting shirt". mastro posted an authentication by lou lampson. the lampson authentication fails to mention any name change. mastro's ad stated "this is one of the very few surviving North Carolina Jordan artifacts that can clearly be deemed authentic."

recently, a forum member contacted me saying that he had sold a ranzino smith shooting shirt to eric inselberg of nyc. the forum member was concerned because mastro's "jordan" shooting shirt had some striking similarities to the smith shooting shirt he sold to eric inselberg. namely, both shirts seem to have identical stains on the front and on the right sleeve. as well, the "N" (of "UNC") patch on the front bears identical pucker marks on both shirts.

here are both shirts. the following post shows the images enhanced for the sole purpose of showing the stains more clearly.

Re: Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

I agree that the stains match and this is more than a coincedence. Since MEARS examined this jersey, I wonder if anyone recognized a tag change. The shirt originally had a Sand Knit MacGregor tag, then was changed to Sand Knit Medalist (to match the Jordan era tagging).

Re: Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

Rudy,

thanks for the effort you are putting into this. I have been trying to do research on the Gervin...if you look at previous posts the last 2 they have had, have been WAY OFF. To me this one looks good, but I need more concrete evidence. Any help would be appreciated.

What I have noticed on other pictures is the Spur in the letter U iw way more to the left and not lined up as much with the first 4 and in most pics, the S and S in Spurs goes into the Black sides on the jersey.

I actually do want to bid on this, or one eventually....any thoughts???

Re: Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

MEARS used a light table to discover the name change. MEARS' research was not disclosed by Mastro in the auction description. Lou Lampson wrote the LOA. If Lampson and his boys call him an "expert", why didn't he use a light table...or his eyes? What does the hobby expect of its authenticators? It seems like MEARS did everything that could be expected. They ruled the Jordan warm up as "unable to authenticate". Lou Lampson sold out. I understand Lou knows Raisin/Cinnamon/cream cheese bagels, Zapruder films, and grassy knolls...but it seems Lou doesn't know jack about recognizing a forgery.

Re: Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

Rudy...

Great job spotting this...it makes me sick to my stomach seeing this...I saw this warm up at the National and thought it was awesome...I was gonna have a friend bid on it for me...thank goodness that I didn't

I think what Mastro did was extremely disgusting...Mears finds issues with it, so they send it to Lampson?...the same guy who would authenticate 20 Shrouds of Turin in the same month?

at least GFC pulled their Worthy UNC when issues were made, Mastro seems like they're being extremely deceptive...what a shame!!!

Re: Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

Hello everyone,

I received some emails from Doug Allen at Mastro. He says he did not receive my initial inquiry about the Jordan shirt. (On August 1st I had emailed him to ask if this was the same shirt that mears had deemed "unable to authenticate." and had not heard back)

Mr. Allen gave me his cell number in case I need to get in touch with him in the future, which I appreciate. He wanted to talk to me on the phone about the situation, but I am out of the country and it would be a pretty difficult and expensive venture.

He asked me to share the following information with the forum. The next part is the email from Doug Allen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric,
I am sorry but I never got your e-mail on August 1st. In the future if something like this arises so close to the end of one of my auctions don't hesitate to call me on my cell which is listed below.

Just to catch you up below is an e-mail I sent to Troy Kinunen at MEARS. Feel free to share this with your constituency. They are currently in possession of the shirt and performing a more detailed examination of it. I will be happy to share their ultimate findings.

I just wanted to send you an e-mail to confirm what transpired as it relates to the Jordan shooting shirt in our live auction. The primary reason I am doing this is to ensure this never happens in the future!

Let me get to the punchline first. I have notified the winning bidder that he does not have to pay for the lot and we will be cancelling the sale due to authenticity concerns.

As you are aware this was one of the last items we took in for the live auction and were at the deadline when you confirmed you had to take it back with you to review it more carefully. I had gotten the message from my guys that you "were not comfortable signing off on it" so I told them to go ahead and run it with the Lou Lampson letter since he was comfortable issuing an LOA on the shirt. Unfortunately we never received your "letter" which explained the details of the name change and the reason you were not comfortable apining on the shirt. If I had known this I would have immediately pulled it from the auction. The first time I had been informed about potential issues with the shirt was on August 2nd when a reporter inquired about the letter you issued. At the time I was not aware a letter detailing findings had been issued and I notified him of that fact. When I got back to the office after the National I was finally able to review your letter and review the concerns expressed on the Game Used Forum.

I am really sorry we did not engage in any direct conversations about this item earlier and I will take the blame for what was effectively a lack of attention to this matter. I mistakingly thought your lack of comfort was due to the fact that you were not comfortable with writing letters on items that fall so far outside of the mainstream as opposed to substantive concerns about the actual item.

Now where we go from here (1) I have a person on my staff who will monitor various game used forums to make sure we are more attentive to issues that arise regarding items in our auction. (2) If I ever choose to sell a piece of game used equipment not authenticated by MEARS (excluding of course Football Helmets and Hockey which you do not cover) I will fully disclose your findings so the buyer understands all angles before bidding.

Finally, I have sent you the Jordan shooting shirt. I want you to go through it with a fine tooth comb. Take it apart if you have to….I will take care of the consignor. If in fact the number and tagging was changed it was a very professional job and we need to work together to make sure this can be identified in the future.

I look forward to your feedback.

Sincerely,
Doug Allen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I then followed up with some questions which Mr. Allen was quick to answer. Here is the email exchange

Doug
Thanks for the email. A couple of things- what does it make you think about lou lampson that he didn't pick up on something like a name change? Will it affect anything regarding your use of lou? Did lou have anything to say about this?
Also- the person you bought the "jordan" shirt from- what are you going to do about him if anything. How much of your auction listings come from him.
I look forward to your answers.
(section removed) Was (the person who bought the Jordan shirt) upset that he bought something which was signed off by your authenticator which had such a big problem?
And lastly, when mears deemed the shirt "unable to authenticate" how did they communicate that to you?
Thanks
Eric
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric,

Regarding the authenticators findings or lack thereof I am going to work closely with both MEARs and Lou Lampson over the next week or so to see what was done to the jersey and ascertain why it wasn't identified in the initial review. I will be totally transparent about these findings when they are available. Until then I don't want to comment.

The person who consigned the Jordan shirt gave us a few things in 2003 and nothing since then. It is my opinion that he purchased the shirt thinking it was good. That is all I am at liberty to say about him.

MEARS issued the unable to authenticate letter but unfortunately this message was verbally communicated and we never physically got the letter. I am not blaming them it was our responsibility to seek out the letter and the findings therein.

All the best,
Doug
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug
(section removed)
Can you answer another question about lampson? Did he look at the jordan
shirt on a light table. Sounds like he did not or he would have seen the
name change. Given how he certified a shirt with a huge problem, I think
it makes him look pretty bad and unfortunately hurts buyers' confidence
in other auction items with his name. Any chance you can get him to
answer a few questions about his authentication technique? I have called
and emailed him many times and he has never gotten back to me.
Did you buy the jordan shirt directly from eric inselberg? Thanks Eric
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Eric,

(section removed)

I can't respond to how Lou authenticates. I will talk to him about
opening the lines of communication.

Finally, we did not "buy" the shirt from anyone it was consigned and not
by eric insulberg....he is not even on our database.

Regards,
Doug
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug
(section removed)
If inselberg did not consign it- is it worth finding out from the consignor where he got it from- to determine where along the way it got changed from a ranzino smith shirt to a michael jordan shirt? Have you spoken to the consignor about the problem with his item? Best, Eric
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(From Doug Allen)
I have discussed with consignor and he is being very reasonable about
letting me do whatever I have to do.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

I had gotten the message from my guys that you "were not comfortable signing off on it" so I told them to go ahead and run it with the Lou Lampson letter since he was comfortable issuing an LOA on the shirt.

Re: Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

It's nice to see that Doug Allen is responding but don't bet for one minute that he is just doing it to be nice. He is trying to save face for Mastros since they got caught red handed still selling a shirt that was rejected by a leading authenticator that actually takes the time to research their items. It sure is convenient for Mastros to have Lou Lampson in their back pocket when things like this happen so he can just sign off on anything and Mastros doesn't have to think twice in selling something with his letter?

What I would like to see is Doug to come on here and explain why Mastros still decided to sell the "Darrell Griffith Louisville Cardinals game used jersey" that was in their October 2006 auction after I provided proof from Griffith himself and the University of Louisville to Brian Marren with Mastros and to Lou Lampson that U of L wore knit jerseys during Griffith's tenure and did not start wearing the mesh until approximately 3 years later. The color of the numbers and lettering were even wrong but Lou still signed off on it and Mastros still sold it even though they were given this information well before their auction closed.

I'm not looking to start a fight but I think the CEO of a reputable company should have concerns and explain their actions when they are selling fake items to their valued customers.